Month: November 2009

Inquiry – This week we travel to France, learn about world geography (with the aid of a very large blow-up globe!) and create a timeline of important events in Cayman.Math (Measurement) – We will have another week focused on length to consolidate their understanding of inches, feet and yards and mm, cm and m.  Please check out Rainforest Math via the Mathletics website (www.mathletics.com) for some extra practice in this area.Literacy (Reading and Writing) – Children will be reading a variety of Folk Tales as a whole class and within their guided reading groups.  The particular types of Folk Tales we will be looking at are Legend, Tall Tale, Fable and Fairy Tales.  Children will be writing a Folk Tale based on the Three Wishes which is a combination of a Fairy Tale and a Fable.

Inquiry – We start our new Inquiry unit.  Our big overarching question is, What does it mean to be Caymanian?  As well as getting a better understanding and appreciation for Caymanian culture, we will also be “travelling” to other countries to learn about their culture.  Each child has been issued with a “passport” to record their journey’s.  Also for homework this week, children have been asked to look into their family history and identify customs/traditions that are important to their family. Mathematics – We start our Measurement unit this week.  Each week we will take a different area of measurement to explore e.g. length, weight, capactiy and time.  This week we focus on length using both feet and inches and cm and m.Writing – This week we finish writing our first Folk Tale based story using the tale of The Fox and the Stork as a model.  We will begin to analyse the tale of The Three Wishes.  A focus will be made on writing a sequence of events which includes a build up and conflict.  We will also look at how a story can tell a moral.Reading – This week’s comprehension focus is identifying fact from opinion.

HEALTHY KIDS EXPO! This Thursday 5:30 – 8pm at FBCS.  In class we have discussed and watched a movie from Brainpop to help us understand the food pyramid.  For homework this week, the children need to complete the worksheet entitled Steps to a Healthier You.Writing – We have started a new writing unit.  Children will be reading folktales from around the world and then writing their own folktales.  A Strong focus will be made on writing within a narrative (story) structure (beginning, build up with conflict and climax, ending with resolution) and describing the characters and the setting.  We aim to collate our best writing pieces into a Grade 3 Folk Tale book.Reading – Our whole class comprehension focus is comparing and contrasting.  We continue to work on developing fluency and reading with expression.Math – Continued focus on quickly and accurately recalling basic facts.  This week there will be a particular focus on subtracting larger numbers using standard written form, the traditional computation method.

• Reading – We are at final rehearsal stages for our poem “Be Like an Animal” by Mabel Watts.  We hope to have this filmed by the end of the week.  This will then be put on display during our school Expo.
• Writing – FBCS has started a whole school letter writing initiative.  Children will be writing letters to children in other classes as well as teachers and administrators in both the church and school offices.  Each class will have their own mailbox and “address”.  The Brownie girls will be our mail people.  In Grade 3, we have started going over the structure of a letter and the purpose behind letter writing.
• Spelling – Children are reviewing their words for Unit 1.  I will select 20 of these words to test the children on Friday during our weekly spelling test.  Our school Spelling Bee will also be held this Friday at 8:30am in the chapel.  The representatives from Grade 3 will be Nasim, Allan, James and Dinara.
• Math – We have started work on adding and subtracting 2 – 4 digit numbers.  The children are enjoying using the Responders as part of Accelerated Math and Mathletics to help them improve their learning in this area.

For our end of unit Inquiry, Grade 3 joined up with the Grade 5/6 class to explore the ocean on one the Atlantis Submarines.  A great time was had by all!